I have banker client that has a huge warehouse of player units...most, ornate calliope looking things with ornate carvings, all run by a paper roll or an odd looking set of folding tablets with holes. Some that violins and other string instruments where the bowing or plucking is done by mechanical wands and bows.

They were big in Germany and other parts of Europe before the 2nd war. Sadly, most were destroyed in bombing.

At the University Club where I work, there is a Welte Mignon German roll player unit (of 10 made, it is the only survivor) paired to a 5 manual Wurlitzer keyboard. The whole thing is tied around 5,000 pipes. In fact, the whole mansion was designed around the organ.

That's the good news. The bad news is,audio engineering was in it's infancy in the early 30's. No one shot the room. To hear yourself playing manually, you break the glasses in the main dining room. There are louvered wall portions covered with curtains all over the structure to be operated with electric motors to adjust the volume.

Unfortunately, the rebuilding of the player unit, all the pipes and the organ itself would cost in excess of $500,000.00, with no payback.

Still, it is an historic piece of music history, which will disappear from the consciousness of all but the musical historians very soon.

I just spent 5 days photographing every pipe, the keyboard, etc. for a pipe organ publication in Germany.

R.